Elizabeth's dad Ian made the mistake of mentioning to Jim that he has a music blog called 'Not Quite Music Journalism'. Jim took this opportunity to enlist Ian as the Club's roving reporter. Here's his report from the Nationals that took place on Sunday 24th November 2013.
This year saw a small, but determined, squad travel down to
the JKS Nationals in Nottingham. As ever, there was standing room only in the
arena with a couple of improvements made this year which seemed designed to
speed up the competition. There was an extra tatami, meaning four events could
be held simultaneously and a small change in the scoring system meant that
there could be no draws in kata.
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First up for Haxby were Bethany
and Elizabeth in the Individual Kata, 3rd – 1st
Kyu, 10 – 15 yrs, Female. Elizabeth received a bye through to the second
round and was soon joined there by Bethany, who scored a unanimous win from the
judges for her first round Heian Yondan. Unfortunately, her second round Heian
Sandan wasn’t as good as that of her opponent, who went through with another
unanimous decision. Elizabeth, meanwhile, also went out in the second round. A
stumble towards the end of her Heian Godan was thought to be what caused the
unanimous decision against her, although she later admitted that she also
thought she had made a mistake in the middle.
Oli and Jack, competing in the equivalent Male event, had to wait for a
preliminary round to finish before starting their event. Both made it through
to the second round, Oli’s Heian Shodan giving him a unanimous win from the
judges, while Jack won his Heian Godan with a score of 4:1. Both were given
Heian Nidan in the next round and, unfortunately, neither were able to
progress. Jack’s opponent got the unanimous decision this time, while Oli’s was
a narrower 3:2 defeat.
Jim and Tom Smith were in different pools in
the Individual Kata, Dan grade, 16+ yrs,
Male. Jim had a bye into the second round, where his 5:0 defeat in Heian
Godan saw him go no further. Like Elizabeth, he admitted to having made a
mistake but also acknowledged that, if he had performed the kata to the best of
his ability, he wouldn’t have beaten his opponent. For some reason, only three
judges watched Tom’s Heian Godan which saw him defeated in the first round with
a score of 2:1.
With all the kata rounds completed, focus switched to kumite.
Xander, in his first competition,
was Haxby’s first representative, in Individual
Kumite, Pee Wee, 5 – 7 yrs, Mixed. Showing no sign of the nerves he must
have been feeling, he put up a good fight against Damien Hobben, an orange belt
from Leeds. Eventually, though, two punches to Xander’s stomach gave his
opponent the win despite Xander taking an early lead with a chudan punch of his
own. Xander took his defeat with grace and Damien ev
Elizabeth was back
on the tatami for the 3rd Kyu
– Dan, 11 – 13 yrs, Female competition. Because of her age and, perhaps,
more obviously her size, Elizabeth often struggles with kumite and today was no
exception. Another bye took her straight to the second round, where she faced a
brown belt who was quite a bit taller than her. As ever, though, she gave it
her best shot, going in close to try to prevent her from getting clean hits.
One punch did get through, though, hitting Elizabeth in the face. That was the
only score at the end of the bout, so the decision went to the judges. Despite
Elizabeth’s attacking, they awarded the win to her opponent, with a score of
4:0, and Elizabeth’s competition was over.
The Male
equivalent event had already started on tatami 3 and the medics were being kept
busy on that mat as a number of fights ended with or contained injury, mainly
due to over-eagerness than any intentional brutality. Spectators around this
mat had already been treated to some superb team kata and they were still in
the mood for cheering as this event saw some of the best fights of the day. Jack was up first for Haxby but lost
his bout against black belt Elliott Saggers after taking two hits to the head. Oli, though, seemed to be fired up. His
ferocious kiai as his left his starting position seemed to disconcert his black
belt opponent and it was only a matter of seconds until Oli was one point up.
He eventually won the bout 2:0, going through to face a Dan grade who, we were
told, is the current world champion. Again a head shot gave Oli an early lead
but this only seemed to galvanise his opponent who launched a frenzied attack,
only to be pulled back by the referee. Despite some solid defence by Oli, he
ended up taking two hits to the stomach and lost the bout 2:1 but there was
definitely no shame in that result and the consensus was that this was Haxby’s
performance of the day.
Tom took to the
mat again for the 3rd Kyu –
Dan, 16 – 18 yrs, Male event. His opponent was Jed Dickinson from Leeds,
who had the advantage of Sensei Matt Price’s coaching from the side of the mat.
A head shot saw Tom go a point down quite early in the bout but a spirited
fight-back seemed to have his opponent reeling, with a few shots that might
have scored on another day. With the score still 1:0 at the end of the bout,
the judges unanimously awarded the win to Jed. I thought Tom was unlucky but he
admitted to me afterwards that, although a few of his shots had found targets,
his technique wasn’t what it should have been.
Haxby’s final competitor was Jim, in the Any grade, 40+
yrs, Male event. Up against 1st Kyu Anthony Wilks, he was
defeated 2:0, later admitting that he, “needed to block more. Or at least stop
blocking fists with my face.” I can’t help but think that there’s a lesson there
for the younger members of the club.
So, no medals for Haxby but each competitor did their best,
performing to the best of their ability on the day. It’s easy for me to say
that it is the taking part that counts – I don’t have to suffer the nerves of competition
or the sting of defeat. I am, however, proud that Elizabeth is associated with
the club. Each of the club’s competitors showed the required spirit and, more
importantly, sportsmanship, taking both victory and defeat with dignity.
Thanks to Ian for his report. Check out his other write ups at www.imassey.blogspot.co.uk
visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk
